James Gray accepts St Albans City have come up short against the best sides in the Conference South and is already planning ahead to improve the team for next season.

The Saints are without a win in five games and have not claimed an away victory in the league since November after falling to a 2-1 defeat at promotion-chasing Whitehawk on Saturday.

Joint City manager Gray said: “It just makes you realise we are that little bit short. Time after time this season we’ve come off second best against sides that have much bigger resources than we have in terms of their budget.

“We’re just finding ourselves a little bit short and we’ve lost too many games 2-1 and 3-2. It’s just that little bit of quality we needed and I thought we tried to play a certain way here (at Whitehawk) because the pitch was absolutely horrific and probably the worst one I’ve been to in non-league and this is a Conference South outfit.”

Gray admitted: “The run’s not looking good to be honest. We’re in a tough league against some big sides. There are certain aspects of things we need to improve on but we’re learning about that.

“Like I’ve said enough times now, we’re looking already for next season to see what we can try to do and bring in. We’re a little bit short and the squad size is quite small and we have to try to finish the season on a high.”

Gray was left frustrated by his side’s latest defeat but felt there wasn’t too much between the teams despite 14th-placed St Albans playing a side sitting third in the table.

He said: “Unfortunately we’ve lost 2-1 but I take positives out of the game. I know we’re a little bit behind financially on certain teams but to only get beaten 2-1 here shows we’re not far off but we need a little bit more improvement.

“The two goals we gave away in the first half were sloppy, especially when we just got ourselves back into the game. We conceded just before half time and fell asleep on a set piece and it’s undone us for the three points.

“We’re close but it seems like you get close to these sides and we just need that bit more quality. At the minute we’re lacking that but obviously we’ll try to improve and go again next Saturday.”

Reflecting on the playing surface, Gray added: “You can’t really play any football out there. They play a certain way down here, break quickly on you and try to play counter-attack football.

“That was our plan as well but I think they just had a little bit more quality when they were doing it than we did. They seemed to pick up a lot more second balls than we did.

“The game was a non entity for entertainment because the pitch was that bad. What little quality there was I think they just had the edge on us.”

Gray faces former club Wealdstone, who are just one point above them, this weekend at Clarence Park and the manager hopes his side can take advantage of a more favourable fixture list over the coming weeks.

He said: “We’ve got Wealdstone this week and it’s a run of fixtures we think we can take maximum points from and finish the season highly. I think our run of games recently have been quite tough for us playing against a lot of the sides in the top six.”

The club will be putting on a fans’ forum in the Saints Bar tomorrow at 7.30pm.

Co-owner Lawrence Levy will be chairing the forum with the first half concentrating on off-the-field activities at the club. Chairman Nick Archer will also be in attendance.

Following a break, joint managers Gray and Graham Golds, together with the coaches, will be reporting on the playing side and their hopes for the rest of the campaign and next season.

All are welcome and all questions and views that supporters may wish to discuss will be happily received.

The club look forward to seeing as many supporters as possible at the event.